LAC LA BICHE - Is it Mrs. Audience Member, in the McGrane Theatre, with an appreciation for high school drama?
Yes. You guessed correctly. The mystery is solved.
A production of Clue put on by Drama students at J.A. Williams High School (JAWS) promises to offer plenty of stage-based murder, intrigue, and excitement in the coming week. The Drama class will be putting on seven performances of the play that mimics its namesake board game between Dec. 13 and 15.
Marlo Hanson, who teaches in the JAWS Drama program, has been helping the class plan and put together their own version of the classic murder mystery board game for local audiences.
Hanson said she has always enjoyed a good murder mystery story, especially the film adaptation of Clue.
“I wanted to do something that the kids could really sink their teeth into, that had humour to it, and so, I thought it would be a good production to start with,” she told Lakeland This Week.
Staging the show
Hanson and her students soon learned that putting on such a play not only requires a lot of hard work, but, more crucially, that Clue is an extremely set-heavy piece — the game asks players to name the murderer, identify the weapon and name the location, including a library, the lounge, the kitchen, or dining room, just to name a few. In the JAWS version, Hanson explains, the characters are in a home called Boddy Manor, and have to continuously run from room to room ... to room In order to show those different rooms on stage without set changes, the local crews opted for an ingenious carousel of back-drops.
Once the designs had been drawn up, the sets were constructed by students in Karin Wipfli’s industrial arts class. Hanson also said Nouhad Fayad, an educational assistant at JAWS, was crucial to the building of the rotating sets, which she also helped to decorate.
Double roles, single roles
Student participation with the sets and on the stage have been great, says Hanson. While some of the roles are double cast, meaning that two performers play the same character, most of the main members of the cast having one part only.
She said there are 19 students in the drama production itself.
Students from the audio-visual and multi-media communications class at the school will be doing the lights and sound.
In the lead up to their three-days of show times, the students have been holding daily rehearsals at Portage College and working diligently on set design.
Having fun while earning grades
Hanson, who formerly taught Drama at Aurora Middle School, said several of the students in the class have previously acted in school productions. Regardless of experience, those who participate in the play not only have fun, but the work they do also goes towards their grades.
“Students earn a Drama credit for this production,” she said.
Playing the roles
JAWS students Courtney Vezeau and Amri McKay are double-casted as Mrs. White in their school's adaptation of Clue.
This isn’t Vezeau’s first time on stage.
“I did a play last year for JAWS…I had a pretty big part, but this year, it’s even bigger,” she said.
Helping to put together this production of Clue has been a very rewarding and exciting experience for the students.
“I love doing plays…I think they’re fun…and it makes you more confident too,” Vezeau continued.
McKay, who has enjoyed the performing arts for all of her life has also enjoyed being a member of the Clue cast. She really likes the production's storylines.
“I think it’s very interesting…I think lots of people will be surprised…I was surprised the first time that I read the script,” she said, adding that members of the cast also watched the film version of Clue to become more acquainted with the story.
There are eight performances in the show's run that starts Dec. 13. All the performances take place at the 250-seat McGrane Theatre in Portage College. The shows are split between community and school audiences, with each night's 7pm performance open to all community members. Five daytime shows are by invitation only for students and staff from local schools as well as residents of Lacalta Lodge and Points West seniors' homes. Clients of Lac La Biche Disabilities are also invited to these shows.
Tickets for the community performances are $10 and are available on the JAWS website.
